Posts Tagged ‘Star Citizen’

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The makers of Star Citizen have declared that the lawsuit against them by CryEngine makers Crytek “sacrifices legal sufficiency for loud publicity”, and asked the court to dismiss it. Crytek have claimed that Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) broke the contract under which they licensed CryEngine to build their space sim upon. CIG say these claims are tosh, mostly disproved by a simple look at the agreement – a text they claim Crytek had concealed from the court, and so have shared themselves. I prefer my legal drama to have jokes, songs, and closing arguments to the jury which are actually a metaphor for their failed marriage with the opposing lawyer who–oh god!–they’ve only just realised they never stopped loving, but let’s get stuck in.

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Despite reports of a brewing legal struggle between Star Citizen studio Cloud Imperium Games and one-time engine partners Crytek, the enormously crowdfunded studio have released another big chunk of gameplay footage, this time focused solely on Squadron 42, the story-driven singleplayer campaign mode. It’s a broad mix of gameplay styles, showing off everything from dialogue to dogfighting, some zero-G EVA exploration and a chunk of planetary on-foot stealthy action.

If nothing else, it features an eerily accurate digital recreation of Liam Cunningham – the tip of a star-studded iceberg – looking a little less crispy around the edges than he did in Game of Thrones, although no less world-weary.

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It wouldn’t be 2012-2018 (and who knows how much longer) without a Star Citizen controversy. Chris Robert’s mega-crowdfunded space-everything game has been subject to a great deal of scrutiny about what it’s spent its half-decade and its $173 million dollars on, but a brand new curveball is that his studios Cloud Imperium Games and Roberts Space Industries are being sued by Crysis and CryEngine makers Crytek.

Up until last year, Star Citizen was built using CryEngine, but now Crytek are arguing there’s been a breach of contract and copyright infringement. They’re after an injunction which, if successful, wouldn’t mean good things for that release date we’ve been holding out for.Read the rest of this entry »

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It wasn’t until developer Cloud Imperium began showing off Star Citizen‘s alpha 3.0 that I started to get interested in Chris Roberts’ baby. Sure, the ambitious plans have always sounded impressive, but only recently has it started to look like there’s a hint of cohesion, that there’s a game in there I might like to play.

In August, Roberts and co showcased all manner of exciting things, from co-op missions to plummeting down towards a planet’s surface with nothing but a hoverbike and a space suit. But now we’re able to see what the most recent version looks like outside of a controlled environment, from the perspective of a player.

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Interested in how the games sausage gets made? Yes? Then you need to be following Blocktober. No? Then you need to be following Blocktober. It’s a hashtag – no, come back – on Twitter this month, at which level designers on games big, small and yowza, really big are showing off what their creations looked like before artists and graphics programmers went and covered up all the cleverness with prettiness. In other words, take a look at the component parts some of your favourite games are made of, and get a real sense of how much of what we take for granted as background scenery and pathing is meticulously built.

Also: some of these unclothed visions of games such Star Citizen, Titanfall, Homefront, Yooka-Laylee, Vermintide, Bulletstorm, Dead Space, Uncharted and many more look like escapees from a beautifully minimalist alt-dimension of games that I would love to visit.Read the rest of this entry »

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As Old Father Time grabs his sickle and prepares to take ailing 2016 around the back of the barn for a big sleep, we’re looking to the future. The mewling pup that goes by the name 2017 will come into the world soon and we must prepare ourselves for its arrival. Here at RPS, our preparations come in the form of this enormous preview feature, which contains details on more than a hundred of the exciting games that are coming our way over the next twelve months. 2016 was a good one – in the world of games at least – but, ever the optimists, we’re hoping next year will be even better.

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Star Citizen [official site] developers Cloud Imperium Games have always spokenly about their big dreams for the space sandbo but been a bit hazier on the specifics of what’s coming when. That’s changing. Four years after Star Citizen’s initial crowdfunding campaign ended, CIG have started issuing huge weekly updates on development, not just with target release dates but the whole internal schedule too. If you’ve backed it and are wondering what they’re up to, well gosh oh golly you can now see in so very much detail. We may still need to wait for huge tell-alls for off-message commentary but gosh-o this is remarkable insight for such a big game. Read the rest of this entry »

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Los Angeles was all Star Citizen [official site] a-go-go last weekend, hosting the spaceship game’s annual CitizenCon celebration. Cloud Imperium Games took to the stage to update fans on what they’ve been up to, and show off future work-in-progress versions. Bad news: this does include a delay for the singleplayer companion game Squadron 42, now pushed out of 2016 into… who knows? On the flipside, Cloud Imperium did show some pretty planets and a honking great sandworm rising to snap at hoverbikes and aircraft so, y’know, that’s certainly a bonus. Read the rest of this entry »

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If you’re interested in crowdfunded space sandbox Star Citizen [official site], do set aside 45 minutes to settle down with a cup of tea and read Kotaku UK’s mega-feature on the game’s troubled development. Julian Benson has spent seven months talking with people who’ve been working on it, from displeased devs who wish to remain anonymous up to the big cheese himself, Chris Roberts. It’s a cracking look inside and a fine bit of work. Recommended!

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Fancy space games are certainly more common now than when Star Citizen [official site] was announced but Cloud Imperium’s space ’em up is still the flashiest. The devs are still working on its core elements and pulling them together into a concrete whole, but that’s starting to look pretty dang swish all right. During Gamescom last week they showed off an hour-long gameplay preview of alpha 3.0, with two players in a ship flying down from space, through a planet’s atmosphere, to land at a settlement, wander around, and pick up a contract from a proper voice-acted NPC. Have a look:

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Star Citizen [official site] is an ambitious game inciting a fair share of both awe and controversy. The space sim has smashed crowdfunding records, raising over $100 million, and those numbers continue to climb three years later although the game’s is still in alpha. Star Citizen promises a lot, including ultra-powerful, as of yet imaginary, spaceships that cost thousands of dollars. The game’s future is still uncertain but now you can see for yourself what it’s like at this very moment.

Developers Cloud Imperium Games have launched another “Free Fly” trial, letting everyone blast off and rocket around for free until July 22nd.

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A backer of Star Citizen [official site] has successfully received a refund of $2550 from Cloud Imperium Games after bringing his complaints about the company to the L.A. Attorney General and consumer watchdogs, including the Federal Trade Commission. He went on to publicly post his correspondence with all the people involved, so everyone can see how laborious the process was.

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At this year’s Develop conference in Brighton, I grabbed an hour with keynote speaker Luke Crane, Head of Games at Kickstarter, to talk about the state of play of videogames on the crowdfunding platform in 2016. Discussed: what makes a good project now, the odds of making it, ‘Kickstarter fatigue’ and the question of glory days, Kickstarter’s reaction to funded projects that are not then released, the importance of community, how the press can be unhelpful and whether or not famous names are dominating the ecosystem at the expense of smaller developers.Read the rest of this entry »

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For millennia, humanity has stared at the skies on a Monday morning and thought “Blast me off this godforsaken rock and end me in nuclear fire.” We’re a dramatic sort. You can come close to that this Monday, though, as Star Citizen [official site] is holding another ‘Free Fly’ week until next Monday. All and sundry can peep at Cloud Imperium’s crowdfunded spaceship ’em up, poking around its modules to see how it’s coming on.

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This Sunday will see crowdfunded space ’em up Star Citizen [official site] split into two games, the MMO-y sandbox Star Citizen and the singleplayer campaign Squadron 42. Sort of. Not really. It’s two separate ‘packages’, at least. As this has evidently surprised some, developers Cloud Imperium Games have explained more about what it is, saying they’d “like to clear up some confusion about exactly what’s happening!”

In short, if you already own Star Citizen you’re fine. By which I mean the whole game previously sold as ‘Star Citizen’. Not the module/package/game/thing ‘Star Citizen’. Oh yes, I see where this can get confusing.

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You might hear a lot about Star Citizen [official site], about its grand visions for a sandbox universe and about its $107 million crowdfunded by selling virtual spaceships, but what’s the game actually like now? Is it worth paying for? Well, you can read Alec’s thoughts or you can now go see for yourself. For another few days, a ‘Free Fly’ event lets all and sundry sign up and play at exploring, shooting, questing, and socialising in Alpha 2.1.2.

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas a game. Maybe not a lot, actually, but certainly a little. Star Citizen [official site] 2.0, as the latest alpha update calls itself, is out now and tries to expand the scope of the long-in-the-making, $100 million space game in addition to improving its core fight’n’flight aspect. So the big question is: is now the time to give Chris Robert’s record-breaking comeback a try if you’re not someone who’s already backed it?

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Star Citizen [official site], you may have noticed, has received a fair amount of attention lately. That’s probably because it recently launched its Alpha 2.0 and also surpassed $100 million via its on-going crowd funding initiative – a total accrued in just over three years. If you’re not clued up on all that is Star Citizen, it’s well worth checking out Alec’s Star Citizen 101: What Is It And Why Is It Controversial? which should get you quickly up to speed. Done that? Good, now you can appreciate the following trailers which show off the game’s procedurally generated planets and how you’ll seamlessly explore them.

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“Scramble interceptors, make it so, call all cars, send in the clowns, and 3 2 1 blast off!” is what I imagine Chris Roberts shouted before smashing a big red button to launch Alpha 2.0 of Star Citizen [official site] on Saturday. “Nyoooommkkrrrrkkk!” he might have added, dashing around, his arms swept back like a sleek space fighter. I know that’s what I’d do, though you’ll need to give me $100 million to see that. Oh, yes! Its pre-order-o-crowdfunding has now passed $100 million too. “KERBLAMMOBLAM!” A weekend of milestones!

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There is much still unknown about Star Citizen [official site], the space game that’s been crowd-funded to the tune of almost $100 million (I summarised the strange situation to date here), but one of the things that is known is how its essential dogfighting works. The Arena Combat module has been around for a little while now, and while some backers are delighted at the chance to take their purchased spaceships out for a ride in it, there has been some grumbling about the flight model. Even devs Cloud Imperium Games seem to agree that it wasn’t quite hitting the high notes, as they’ve just announced detailed plans for a major overhaul.